IN RAINBOWS

Radiohead

Crossover Prog

3.83 | 640 ratings

From Progarchives.com, the ultimate progressive rock music website

The inconceivably low average rating that the Radiohead albums have on PA, is quite revealing: a lot of people obviously don't consider Radiohead prog at all.

Then what is prog? The defininite definition is still on the loose, and will always be. Radiohead stretches the borders of both music and the concept of prog. Firstly, Radiohead clearly explores the unknown parts of the sound of rock music, and very conciously risks its success through making records that constantly go into unexpected directions. This makes its music more progressive than any of their contemporaries who try to emulate the best bands of the 70's. Secondly, the concept of prog must not be seen as narrowly as many people do. A prog composition doesn't need to have symphonic length, structure, polyphony, ever-changing metre or anything suchlike - the general feeling of making progression is all that is needed. That's where Radiohead are in the class of their own among the most popular bands of today.

In Rainbows didn't open its gates easily to me. When the record came out, I gave it a couple of listens but found little that would have caught my true appreciation. Almost a year later, while driving alone up North for some 700 kilometres in the middle of snow, I put the CD in the player, and it hit me there and then. I listened to it non-stop time after time, and suddenly its beauty and cohesion started talking to me. I now consider it Radiohead's best album so far.

There isn't a bad track on In Rainbows. All of them might not be absolute masterpieces, but a few are. I love the contrast there is when the out-of-breath rally of Bodysnatchers turns into the softest melancholy of Nude. Another high points of this record are House of Cards with its magnificent production, and Jigsaw Falling Into Place, which is one of the greatest songs in Radiohead's entire output.

In Rainbows truly is a milestone in many ways. I can't imagine how the gentlemen are going to surpass it, but them being that bloody Radiohead, I'm sure I'll be surprised once again.

OT R�ih�l� | 5/5 | 2011-1-10

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